


The Ujjin Phenomenon

by CookieMonstersRUs, TheAlemBooks



Series: Ojjai and Vamps Verse [1]
Category: The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Advanced Placement, Characters of color, Crack, Creepy Stalker Stefan, F/M, Female Character of Color, Harry Potter References, Horrible Puns/Jokes, Humor, IS THE WORST, It's not nice to drown ppl, Lots of nicknames for Stefan, Mythical Beings & Creatures, New Mythical Beings & Creatures, OC, Romance...?, Stalker Damon, Stressed out juniors, Water bending, gosh damon, made up creatures and words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 00:16:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11725539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieMonstersRUs/pseuds/CookieMonstersRUs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAlemBooks/pseuds/TheAlemBooks
Summary: “I think he thought I was joking,” Lena told them that Sunday. When Elijah had first heard, he’d broken his cup, and Kol was still sulking in a corner, a new dent in their front porch. “But I never joke about cookies.”“I’m going to kill him,” Kol seethed.ORNot only is Mystic Falls a supernatural pigsty, but it's also the home to an all-powerful junior who's stressed out about APs, stalker vamps on her ass, and Cathy Weltzer.





	The Ujjin Phenomenon

It was perfectly understandable to look at the junior class and skim over Lena S. Johnson. Nothing about her was particularly intriguing: black, straight, and in the solid middle class. The only interesting thing about her was the faded scar on her cheek, but everyone knew that that was from the minor, non-threatening accident her and her older brother, Eli got in when she was twelve. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you were Lena’s mother, what many also didn’t realize was the sheer power that welled up inside of Lena, waiting to burst, because what many didn’t realize was that Lena S. Johnson was an Ojjai, a rare creature with the ability to control the elements.

Lena’s grandmother, Josetta, was an Ojjai, but since then, only Lena in the family bared the weight of being an Ojjai. However, unlike her earth wielding grandmother, Lena much preferred the water and sometimes, when the moon was winking down at her, Lena liked to sneak out of the house and go down to the river to play.

And this was where Damon Salvatore found Lena S. Johnson, wearing a one piece and the water curled around the air like a snake ready to fly. He got one step towards the water before she shrieked and the water came slamming into him.

“Jesus Christ! You scared me!” She clutched her flat chest and stared at the drenched vampire.

“What the hell are you?” he growled.

She smirked at him. “What, vampy, you can’t figure it out yourself?”

“Did you just--”

“I figured it out on the first day of school. Stefano smells like death.”

“His name is Stefan.”

She rolled her eyes and back paddled further into the water. “Does it really matter, vampy?”

“Stop calling me that!” He shucked off his shirt and his jeans, approaching the water. Lena frowned at the sight, not particularly excited by the idea of swimming with a dead guy, but sighed, dipping under the surface. Underwater, the world was a murky green and silent. Lena liked to listen to the water bend and sigh around her for a long moment.

She pushed herself up to the surface, where Damon was waiting for her. “So,” she drawled, “what’d you want?”

“Do I have to want something?”

“Damon Salvatore, I have met plenty of vampires. They all want something.”

“As a matter of a fact, Katara,” Lena snorted at this, “I was just walking through the woods and I heard you. I was curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“But satisfaction brought it back.” He smirked a fang at her.

“Fine,” she huffed. “I’m an Ojjai. You’d find out anyway. I’ve seen how snoopy you are. You, Stefan, and that Gilbert girl are not subtle. This place is turning into a supernatural pigsty.”

“How did we not notice someone like you?”

“Unlike Gilbert, I don’t wear short skirts. Stefanzo probably got distracted.”

“It’s Stef--”

“Stefan, I know. Don’t care.”

“So what, you’re a walking encyclopedia of supernatural whereabouts around here?”

“For the most part.”

“So do you know where Klaus is?”

She rolled her eyes. “C’mon Damon, _Klaus_? Could you be anymore unoriginal?”

“Well, do you?”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. My family’s got history with them.”

Damon snorted. “Who doesn’t?”

She splashed some water in his face and glided away before he could splash back. Lena floated on her back and started up at the dip of the trees and the speckle of stars. Bugs buzzed near the water. He stood near her, shifting in the water. In the dark, she thought, he didn’t look all that bad. No wonder all the senior girls kept drooling over him. Lena sighed.

“I’m not going to help you with them.”

“Will you help us at all?”

“I’ll tell you a _very_ important secret that’ll help you.”

“Oh?” He smiled at her, wide and alluring.

“Yes. Come here.” He swam closer to her. Lena wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself up against him. He was so cold and it was such a hot night. She looked into his blue eyes, feeling giddy at having all of his stupid attention. If she wasn’t an Ojjai, Damon Salvatore would have never looked at Lena S. Johnson. It made her laugh because boys, in her opinion, would always be dumb. “The secret is, Mister Salvatore, that Elijah and Kol are absolutely smitten for snickerdoodles and lemonade.” She burst into giggles.

He stared at her for a moment and then she felt a hand wrap around her throat and the water pouring into her lungs, suddenly submerged in the river. She stared up at the surface, struggling against his tight grip. She blinked and slammed her hand up, the water striking him in the face as sharp as ice, and felt his hand loosen on her neck. She pushed the whole wealth of water towards him, slamming him ten feet away and into the water. Lena pushed herself above the water and snarled. She flung her hands out at him, surrounding him in a cascade of water. She couldn’t drown a dead man, but she could leave him gasping.

She stormed over to him, her legs a powerful storm within the water. The water grasped him tight, keeping his thrashing body still as she leaned over him. “You thought you could drown _me_?” she yelled.

He almost looked apologetic. Lena slapped him hard. Twice. And a third time just for luck.

“I swear to fucking God, Damon Salvatore, if you come near me again, I have a wooden stake with your name on it.” She huffed, turning away, and was swept to shore, a sharp current pushing Damon beneath the water. She decided to keep him there for ten minutes, maybe twenty if she was still angry when she got home.

Elijah was going to be _pissed_.

* * *

 

“I think he thought I was joking,” Lena told them over lemonade and snickerdoodles that Sunday. When Elijah had first heard, he’d broken his cup, and Kol was still sulking in a corner, a new dent in their front porch. “But I never joke about cookies.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Kol seethed.

* * *

From there, it just became a whole ordeal. Apparently Elijah and Finn found Damon and roughed him up, breaking his jaw and dislocating his shoulder and hip, and then locking him up in a vervain-soaked chain and dunking him into the river until the vervain washed away and he could escape.

The next day, Stefan approached Lena before first period, much to her chagrin.

“Listen, Lena--”

She frowned. “Do I know you?”

Cathy Weltzer, who sat behind her in physics, gasped at the sight of _the_ Stefan Salvatore talking to lowly Lena S. Johnson.

“No, but--”

“Sorry then, I don’t talk to strangers.” Lena walked away, leaving Stefan gaping after her.

The next day it was Elena Gilbert and some peach cobbler, then Caroline Forbes, and even Matt Donovan, who she had a crush on when she was in sixth grade. If anything, seeing all the tag-team duo buddies of the supernatural-let’s-kill-Klaus-squad just made Lena more mad. She just wanted to be left alone. The only one, however, that Lena did talk to was Bonnie Bennett.

They were cousins, not biologically, but creature-wise. Ojjai and witches were born for practically the same reasons and were meant to help each other. Lena might’ve known she was an Ojjai when she was five and that Bonnie was a witch when she was seven, not telling her, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends.

“I just wanna say--”

“If you tell me that he’s really a sweet guy, I will remind you that drowning people is not something sweet guys do.”

“No,” Bonnie shook her head, “I was just gonna say that I think you’re right. Damon’s a dick. I think you should drown him again.”

Lena grinned.

* * *

Lena was only sixteen (seventeen in January!) but Damon following her around everywhere almost made he want to call the guy out on stalking charges. Or pedophilia. Lena wondered which one would be more believable.

“I can see you,” she whispered on her way home from the library. Huffing, Damon Salvatore waltzed out from the trees wearing his patented leather jacket and smirk. “In case you didn’t know, I am a minor and my daddy warned me about bad boy types like you.”

“I bet your daddy warned you about lots of things.” He winked.

Lena almost gagged. “Gross. Stop making everything sound like an innuendo. What do you want Salvy?”

“Salv _atore_.”

“Yes, Salvitte?”

“I’m going to,” he raised his hands up to gesture choking her and she raised a brow.

“You sure you want to? Last time didn’t go so well for you and fun fact, Elijah likes to tutor me on Tuesdays.”

“On what?”

“How to castrate a vampire in three simple steps,” she said. “He says I’m a natural talent.”

Damon snorted.

“What do you want, Vampy?”

“To apologize.”

“What was that?”

“I wanted to apologize.”

“Nope. Uh-uh, still can’t hear you. What was that?”

“I _said_ ,” he snarled. She gave him a look and he immediately restrained himself. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Okay,” she shrugged.

“Okay?” He blinked.

“Yeah. I’m probably going to spike all your water with vervain for the next few months, but we’re okay. As long as you call off all your fanclub inquisitor squad, we can pretend like we never knew each other.”

Damon nodded, an odd look on his face. “Right.”

Lena smiled, bright and dashing. She held out her hand. “It was nice getting to never know you again.”

He shook her hand. “Likewise.”

* * *

Except. Except that _idiot_ wouldn’t leave her alone. Damon was being perfectly fine, keeping his distance, never appearing at the Grill the same time as her, no sudden dips into the river with her. But Stefan, goddammit, that loony snoopy fuck boy, kept popping up. When she was at the library, checking out a Harry Potter book? There, right in the corner: _Stefan_. When she was at the grocery store, buying mega pads and popsicles? The next aisle over: Stefano. When she was at school? Stefanzo. When she was walking home? Stefanilizina. When she took out the trash on Thursday night for her mom? Fucking Steffy hiding in the bushes.

“Get out of here! Get! You useless piece of fangs!” she screamed at him. One of the neighbors’s lights turned on and Lena felt herself blush in embarrassment. She probably looked like a sleep deprived junior studying for her APs and finally cracking under the pressure, shouting out into the abyss of the night like that. Thankfully, Stefan stopped coming by on Thursdays.

It got to such a point that whenever Eli came to town, Lena started playing Where's Stefan, a variation of Where's Waldo but with a stupid blond pretty boy instead of a dufus tourist in round glasses and a striped sweater. Eli, her amazing, beautifully gay human brother that just loved poor little Lena being followed by tall, blond, and chiseled.

Caroline cornered her during lunch the next day after one of Eli’s visits. “Who was that guy you were talking to?” Caroline liked to pretend that Lena and her were long time friends, who shared all sorts of secrets, not strangers. Caroline particularly seemed to forget cutting off one of Lena’s pigtails in second grade for literally _no_ reason, but who was counting?

Lena turned to Caroline and her eager face and deadpanned, “His name is Alejandro and he’s the father of my twins. We’re eloping next week so that little Mariposa and Igor can live with both their parents. Then we’re gonna run away together to Peru and herd some llamas.”

Caroline frowned at her after a second (she actually thought it was true!) and huffed.

“He’s my brother, you dufus. Remember Eli? Was three years ahead? Performed Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ at the town’s talent show despite numerous objections?”

Her face turned a sickly white (even for a dead person.) “ _That_ was Eli Johnson?”

“Yes. He’s really found himself at college.” And some dick. Lena patted Caroline’s gobsmacked cheek before waltzing away.

* * *

However, it didn’t take long for Damon to start bothering her again.

“So…” he drawled in the girl’s bathroom during fourth period. Lena almost screamed because she was _peeing_ and then suddenly a _vampire_ who could break down her stall door and look at her old blue granny panties and then tell people like Popular Jock Matt or Barbie Doll Caroline and _ruin_ her already pitiful life. Then again, Lena knew at least three worse fates such as failing her APs (she has been studying so goddamn hard for that shit,) Eli walking in on her during her private time, or being stuck on an island with the Stefanator.

“What are you _doing_ in here?” Lena yelled, quickly finishing up her business and glaring at the vampire on her way to the sinks. He was sitting on the edge of the ventilator in some stupid leather jacket and shades. “I think you're edging some serious pedophilia grounds, Demon. Spying on young girls peeing? I will have to let my district attorney know about this for the next election season.”

Damon snorted. “First of all, it's _Damon._ Second of all, I wasn't _spying_ on you.”

“Just listening to me pee?”

“Music to my ears,” he deadpanned.

Lena snorted. “Okay, Vampy. Since you're not poorly stalking me like Stephan, I will let you ask whatever you wanted to ask and _then_ I'll go tattle to Elijah.”

Damon looked like he was regretting bothering her already and while he battled with himself over asking her a question and his good looks suffer or go back to his empty mansion (she is _never_ trick or treating there again) and brood while staring at a mirror, Lena washed her hands. She grabbed herself some towels, threw the damp “towels” (it felt like cardboard) away, and turned to him.

“Well?”

“So,” he started, “I was trying to look you up--”

“Let me guess, dead end?”

“Yeah. Couldn't find a single thing about you guys.”

“And you want me to divulge secrets to the enemy?” Mr. Saltzman, who definitely hadn't taken notice of the let's-kill-Klaus-squad’s sudden interest in her or the fact that she knew he was a vampy hunter, was going to be worried about how long she was in the bathroom.

“Me? The enemy?” Damon held a hand to his chest. “I thought we were on a truce!”

She rolled her eyes. “I seem to recall a Salvatore-Mikaelson feud occurring as of late, but I will let it slide.” She bent down, running her hands through her hair before swinging back up, and slung her curls into a ponytail, feeling her head rush. “To give you a bit of a wider berth of info, trying looking into elemental spirits and that folklore. Also you are spelling Ojjai O-J-J-A-I and not O-J-J-I, right?”

“Shit, there's an ‘a’?”

Lena snorted. “Yes, there's an ‘a.’ See you around you dingus.”

And she did see him around, like a lot. And this time he wasn't even doing anything. Unlike creeper Stevan, who liked to follow her around and then glance away innocently when she glared at him, Damon acted like he never even _saw_ her. Which, okay, that's great and all, until you're out at Target (which let me tell you is an hour away) with your mom, trying to get a bra to fit your gloriously small boobs, and suddenly Damon walking down the hall when you have to peer out the changing room door in a flouncy magenta push-up bra to call for help from your mother. To say the least, Lena was not pleased when Damon glanced down, smirked, and walked away. Next time, she was just going to ask Finn or Elijah to help her find a custom tailor and then make them pay for her boob holders because her and Rebekah were having a fight over Stephora’s manly charm. Ugh.

But it was also the extremely little things that bothered her. She went to go see an action flick with her best friend in the whole wide world, sweet, sweet, completely human (however under some of the strongest protection spells in existence) and oblivious Gretchen James with her strawberry blonde hair and beautiful smile (Lena was completely comfortable to moon over such a lovely specimen and they both rued how straight they were (sigh,)) when Lena spotted Damncmon munching on popcorn three levels behind them with Mr. Saltzman as they watched the movie. Lena was mildly reserved for the rest of the evening, except of course, after crying when the heroine made out with her boytoy before he died and she killed the bad guy, but honestly Lena thought she saw Damon sniffle too.

And then another time, she was in gym class, which she does “okay” in, and then Damon came in in some red track suit and whistle and was their substitute for like two weeks. Lena _hated_ it. Mostly because there was always some point in the class where Damon started playing with the kids and then promptly took his shirt off. Lena is adamant that Cathy Weltzer fell and sprained her ankle because of it. Damon also _always_ called on Lena no matter what the question, despite her never raising her hand.

“Who wants to be team captain? Lena, get on up here!”

Or,

“How many variations of badminton are there? Lena?”

Or,

“Can someone run out to my car and get me my sunglasses? Oh, thank you, Lena.”

Or even,

“Can someone just rub my back for a hot sec? I think I might have twisted it wrong playing with you guys. Lena?”

To say the least Cathy Weltzer and the Demon Salvabutt fan club that stretched across all of Mystic Falls High hated her guts. Even beautiful, naive Gretchen pouted at Lena.

But, Lena did have to hand it to Damon. For all the times he popped up in her life, he never, ever asked her about the Ojjai. Which, guessing how little texts are in existence and available to him, since her family and Kol’s pretty much guard the rest, was a bit of a shocker. Maybe he didn't care anymore. Lena kinda hoped he didn't because maybe then he'd fade away from her.

She couldn’t have any distractions anymore.

* * *

In December, Eames came to visit. Her mother picked her up from school on purpose so as to prepare her for the meeting.

He sat in their kitchen, looking like he was thirty, but Lena knew better. That man was almost a hundred and fifty years old and the Water Ujjin. He drank his coffee in silence as he watched her approach. Lena sighed, taking off her backpack and hopping up onto the counter.

“Lena,” he drawled. “I take it school is going well.”

“Yes, Mr. Heinrich. How are the seas?”

“Polluted, as we all know.” Lena nodded. “And please, Lena, call me Eames. I feel old when you  call me mister.”

“Yes, Eames.” Lena grabbed the cookie jar and nibbled on a snickerdoodle.

“I now that you will take better care of them when you are the Ujjin.”

“And when will that be?”

“Soon,” he sighed. “However not too soon.  I am thinking five or six years from now?”

“Is it time for me to be your apprentice?”

“Oh heavens no.” He laughed. “When you are nineteen, I think. However, I will leave you some books for your birthday and visit when I can so as to start you off a bit. It is nothing to worry about, Lena.”

“Of course.”

“I only meant to remind you of your place since your grandmother has mentioned the infestation currently in this town.”

Lena shrugged. With Eames he could be referring to the supernatural or the humans, both he wanted to wipe off existence. “Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

Eames drained the rest of the mug in the sink, heading back to the door. “Do tell your mother her coffee was lovely.”

“I will.”

“Goodbye, Lena,” he called from the front door.

“Goodbye.”

And that was that.

* * *

On January 3rd, a little Ojjai was born, and seventeen years later, it was Lena S. Johnson’s birthday. Eli, that smug idiot, was still on a break (why did high schoolers have such short breaks?) and had woken her up with a snowball on the face. She proceeded to turn all patches of snow he was standing on into either slippery ice or gooey water, causing him to fall on his ass for the rest of the day.

Her mother made her a special breakfast of homemade pop tarts before shooing her off to school. (Break ended yesterday evening much to her anger and she would need to write another strongly worded email and letter to her school superintendent about poor timing.) Elijah and Kol promised to take her out of school for a fancy lunch, Klaus agreed to no murders, Rebekah was eager to go ice skating, and Finn was apparently perfecting her celebratory creme brûlée as the day wore on.

The only other that knew and celebrated Lena’s birthday, was Gretchen.

“Lena!” she shouted as the brunette got to her locker. Lena was suddenly surrounded by tall, warm, and girl. Gretchen peppered kisses up and down her face as cooed at her. “Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy birthday!”

She laughed. “Thank you, Gretch.”

“Oh my goodness, how does it feel to be seventeen? I am so excited to be seventeen. I remember last year you got me this super, duper, luper pie--” made by Finn, “--and it was so, so, so good! Are you excited for your birthday? How do you feel?”

Lena laughed. “Good, yes, and good, Gretchen. The only thing I'm excited for for today is lunch and getting that French quiz over with.”

Gretchen giggled and let go of her to pull out a frilly bag. Lena wiggled around the tissue paper to find a complete set of Harry Potter movies and a jar of lollipops. “Happy Birthday! I wanted to give this to you now because I won't see you today because my mom’s taking me to the dentist, which is the _worst,_ and anyhow, we’re still having a sleepover this weekend, right?”

“Right,” Lena nodded. They hugged once more as the bell rang. “Good luck at the dentist’s!”

“Have a magnificent, marvelous, fantastic, bombastic, swell, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious birthday!”

Lena snorted and moved down the hall, “I will!” She loved Gretchen.

About an hour before lunch official started and right after Lena turned in her French quiz, the front office called her down. Waiting for her were Kol and Elijah, who looked chipper as usual, and mighty fancy. Lena frowned at the sight of Elijah's crisp blue suit and Kol’s black vest and looked down at her own jeans and scuffed shoes.

“I don't look nearly as hot as you two.”

“Lena,” Elijah greeted. “Rebekah and Finn found you a dress for our lunch.”

She snorted, knowing fully well that they probably found her something lacey and hella expensive. Lena didn't particularly enjoy taking the Mikaelson’s extravagant gifts such as expensive clothes and that one time Kol tried to give her a delorean for her sixteenth birthday (she couldn't even _drive_ ) and she had to beg them to return such monstrosities in favor of going to the movies or a nice meal.

“Shall we?” Kol asked charmingly, holding his arm out to her.

“Oh we shall,” she grinned. They left behind the compulsed front office clerk and other teachers and towards their chariot.

The dress Rebekah and Finn found her was indeed lacey and expensive, although she appreciated the white garment with blue accents rather nicely and grinned the entire way to the restaurant. Fabicci’s served them the fanciest burgers of all time on artisanal breads with fresh truffle fries and custom ketchup. Lena fucking loved those two. Elijah even procured her a small flute of champagne when she asked. Thankfully, Fabicci’s was a high end vampire resturaunt and the two Originals were allowed to dine on their blood soaked meals.

“So,” Kol asked around his meal, “how is your birthday treating you?”

“Well,” Lena sniffled, “it has been _ghastly_ I must say. There have been no corsages! No symphonies playing as I roam the school halls! No suitors begging for my hand, it has been absolutely dreadful.”

“In our time, you would already be married and with your third child on the way,” Elijah informed her. He took a sip of his blood wine and Lena snorted at the idea.

“That sounds terrible.”

“Yes, well, procreation was procreation.”

“Actually,” Lena hummed, “I think in your time, I would already be an Ujjin and perhaps an old one at that.”

Elijah hummed.

Kol frowned. “When _will_ you be an Ujjin, Leenes?”

“Why? Getting tired of me yet?”

“Actually no.”

Lena sighed, putting her burger back onto the plate and leaning back in her chair. It didn't feel so heart lighted anymore. “Eames thinks after college.”

“And you?”

“I'm worried it'll be when I'm nineteen. He thinks he'll live forever, but he won't.”

Elijah touched her hand. “Neither will you.”

Lena didn't want him to ask her again. To become a vampire. Lena first met Elijah of the Mikaelson clan. Since only Klaus and Elijah roamed around and Lena was a budding Ojjai royalty, they came to meet her when she was seven. Klaus, knowing he was a creepy looking man, had Elijah meet her first. When they first met, Lena remembered asking him to have tea with her and her stuffed animals. They spent the rest of that afternoon talking about Kida and Ariel, her favorite Disney princesses. Since then, Elijah has been her second older brother like Eli. She remembered when she was eleven and meeting Eames for the first time, being scared about her powers for the first time, and Elijah coming to her, promising her that he would turn her if she asked. That was the only thing they ever really fought about besides that Petrova bimbo.

Lena ate another fry. “Yes, well, I'm not leaving quite yet, so stop your brooding you two. Now, when will I be receiving this creme brûlée?”

Elijah sighed. “After your skating with Rebekah.”

“Perfect.”

After their meal, Lena was returned to school. She spent the rest of the day being gawked at by her peers because Kol refused to return her jeans and was glared at by Cathy Weltzer, who could honestly kiss Lena S. Johnson’s ass. Stefanitis found her at the end of the school day with a brooding look on his face.

“Where were you? You smell like Elijah--”

“Excuse me, Stefern, I have an Original waiting for me.” She tried to walk past him, but blondie grabbed her arm.

“Who? Which one? Is it Klaus? What is he--”

“Oh my god, you're actually ruining my birthday!” She shouted it so that the people around them stopped for a second and _glared_ at boy wonder. Stefan jerked back in horror.

“Your birthday?”

“Yes, now if you'll excuse me.” Lena walked away and thankfully, Stefandork let her.

Rebekah thankfully improved the day by taking her to a secluded pond and letting her ice skate and bend the water in peace. The afternoon ended with Finn’s marvelous creme brûlée and Klaus keeping his word as the little family of vampires gave her five dollar gifts (it was a rule of her’s) of Sephora face masks, small stuffed animals, and clearance movies before they took her back home.

Eli, like the good brother he was, got her Harry Potter memorabilia and when their mother wasn't around, gave her some cash for her secret tattoo fund. Her parents gave her some books and gift cards and a nice meal of steak. All around, it was Lena’s best birthday so far.

At eleven that evening, her grandmother came home. Josetta walked into Lena’s bedroom, where the seventeen year old sat on her bed. Lena stood up and smoothed down the silk gown her mother had left for her, the blue cloth hanging off her shoulders and hips in waves. Josetta wore something similar in green, her dark skin glowing under the lights. The woman looked only forty, but Lena knew better.

“Lena,” she smiled, wrapping her arms around her granddaughter. “Oh, it is just wonderful to see you.”

Lena smiled, albeit weakly. “You too, Grandma.”

The woman hummed and pulled away. “Are you ready?”

She nodded and the woman took her hand.

They walked out of the house and through the snow. Lena kept shivering in the cold, but Josetta walked proudly, gracefully through the night. At Lena’s favorite pond, they settled atop the iced water. All around the water, her grandmother had etched the ancient runes into the ground. Josetta helped her into the center, where the trees arched to the sky and the moonlight poured down upon her. Josetta rubbed her shoulder.

“You remember your words?”

“Yes.”

“I will be just at the edge.”

Josetta turned to leave, but Lena reached for her. “Will it hurt?”

“No, my darling, it will not.”

“And Eames is okay with this?” Lena knew that her Ujjin was meant to be with her for this moment.

“Yes.”

Lena nodded and her grandmother left her.

She took a deep breath and hummed. At midnight, Lena began to dance. With the silk pooling around her, Lena moved to the sway of the tides, feeling them brim inside of her. She moved in circles, raising her hands and feeling the ice crack underneath her. Steam filled the air and the ice melted, water swashing through the crevices.

“Oya, ubulo, oya saha oyo, ubulu, ubulo oya,” she sang, her hips rolling. She felt the water hum back at her. The moon washed down upon her and he magic settled into her bones. Lena repeated the verse and the pond was a sea of melted ice. She stood atop the waves, the edges of her gown getting wet. She pushed her arms up and the water twirled around her in thick tentacles. Warmth bubbled inside of her. “Oya, oya, ubulo, saha, saha!” She pushed the water up once more, shouting, “Ubulu, oyo!” and fell into the water. Wrapped in the warbled silk of water, Lena felt the power roil in the pond like a hurricane. She felt something settle inside of her and she was gently pushed to the surface.

Lena waded over to her grandmother and sighed as she stepped onto land, all of the water slipping off of her. Josetta looked at her face and cupped her cheek. Lena wondered where the mark blossomed up on her skin.

“A shame really,” Josetta murmured.

Lena frowned. “What is it?”

Josetta drew her thumb under Lena’s left eye. “Right here. It is right here. Every supernatural in this town will see it.”

“They will?”

“Yes.”

“But not the humans?”

“Of course not.”

“Where’s yours?”

Josetta raised her arm and bared to Lena her first mark: three white lines in a disconnected triangle just above her armpit. “My others are upon my back, as you know.”

“Yes. And Eames’s are on his chest?”

“Yes. I wonder where the rest of your moon marks will splay.”

Lena shrugged. “Thank you, Grandma.”

“Of course, my dear.”

With that, they walked home.

* * *

The next morning, Lena was not surprised to find the stares of the supernatural teens upon her face. Lena tried not to be uncomfortable by it, being a little insecure of the loops and swirls, but honestly, at this point, nothing could make Lena’s junior year any weirder. Vampy stalkers? Check. Moon marks? Check. APs? Lots and lots of checks. Greg York checking her out at the carnival? Check, but extremely gross.

It didn’t take long for team-let’s-kill-Klaus to bombard her at lunch. Gretchen had to make up a history quiz so Lena was sitting alone when suddenly she was surrounded by Tyler Woofwood, Bonnie Witchent, Stefanajandro Salaviatorrbite, and Caroline Forbes-Magazine-Issue-6-6-6-Vampire-Edition, leaving Elena Humanbert and Matt Suchahuman confused at their own tables.

“What’s wrong with your face?” Barbie immediately asked as if she was also insulting Lena for existing.

“Um…” Lena put down her PBJ. When she tells Kol, he was going to have a field day. “What ever do you mean?”

“Your mark,” Stevia pointed, “Elena and Matt can’t see it, but we can.”

“There’s a lot of magic going on right there,” Bonnie informed her.

“A witch did it,” she lied.

Rottwyler frowned. “You’re lying.” Why did Wolfie always sound like he was going to snap and break her?

“I actually don’t have to answer to you. So unless there’s a higher power here that has a question, I will gladly inform you that Klaus promised not to kill anyone on my birthday, but since that day has passed, I can’t promise much.”

That got them to leave fairly quickly, although not without copious amounts of glaring and growling from Doggo.

Unfortunately, according to team-suicide-squad-r-us, they actually thought _Damon_ was a higher power. On her walk home from school, she was immediately sidled up to by Edward Cullen Wannabe. Lena snorted, but allowed this, curious what he had to say.

“Wow, your face really is fucked up.”

Lena almost felt hurt by that, except… “Have you looked in a mirror lately? Your face is all fucked up.”

“Excuse me? I’ve been told that I’m beautiful! Sexy! Completely gorg--”

“How?” she frowned. “You’re hair is awful and your eyes are creepy.”

“Have you seen me?” He gestured to his body, which, she could distantly understand was “aesthetically pleasing” to women and some men.

“Um, you’re not my type, so I don’t really understand the appeal.”

“Not your type? I’m everyone’s type!”

Lena squinted. “No.”

“Well then what’s your type, Face-Tat-Twat?”

Lena snorted. “Probably like Kol? Except not Kol. Someone that looks like Kol, but treats me like a lady. Like Elijah.”

“And you call me a cradle robber?”

“I’ll have you know that I would never date them! I wasn’t finished. This guy also needs to be a crotchety old man. Like Stafan. Or Remus Lupin. That man is a hunk.”

Damon gasped, raising a hand to his chest. “You would chose Remus Lupin over me?”

“Any day. I’m into awful mustaches.”

“You’re into freaks.”

“At least I’m not into Klaus.” Damon laughed. “Then I’d be worried. And a masochist at that point. Jesus, imagine Klaus stalking me like he does to Barbie? That’d be terrible. I need me a freak that will just come out and say it.”

Damon hummed. “Okay. Then I’ll ask. What’s it mean?”

“What?” Lena blinked. What conversation did they open with? “The mark?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, the mark.”

Lena sighed. She touched the edge of it briefly, feeling heat simmer under her fingers. She might as well tell him. “It’s an Ojjai thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It means I’ve been blessed by the moon.”

“What happens if you weren’t?”

Lena laughed. “Then I’d probably die in three years.”

Damon whistled in surprised. “Why do you need to be blessed by the moon?”

She slowed down, trying to savor the chill on her tongue. “Did you find any books on the Ojjai?”

“Only a poem by some Greek dude that said you guys were carved from magic.”

“Sounds about right.”

“So? Why do you need to be blessed by the moon?”

“Let’s just say that in a few years, I’m gonna need that blessing.”

“Very vague.”

“You’re to talk. I bet you get off on being vague.”

“Mysterious, not vague,” he corrected her. “There’s a difference.”

Lena snorted. They were almost at her house. She turned to look at him. Lena felt something slide in place. Huh. His face really was fucked up looking.

“Heard it was your birthday yesterday.”

Lena hummed, leaning against her mailbox. “Yep.”

“Got you something.”

Lena frowned. “Why?”

He handed her a small box. It wasn’t wrapped, but the box itself was carved and pretty. “Just open it.”

She did. Inside was a bracelet. She smelled vervain.

“You hang out with all those other vamps and I was worried they were compulsing you or something and--hey, why are you laughing!”

Lena burst into giggles. “Oh my god, oh my god, Damon, you _idiot_.”

“What!”

“I literally can’t be compelled.” Lena snorted. Damon frowned. “This is sweet and all, but I’m an Ojjai. Magic pretty much slips off of us, it’s kinda sad since there are so many good anti-acne or anti-wrinkle spells and know I can't use them.”

Damon was frowning down at her, looking like he might want to try and snap her neck again. Lena patted his shoulder. “It is a lovely bracelet though, thanks anyway.” She let out another giggle before walking away, back into her house.

* * *

Winter melted slowly and Lena spent most of her time split between classes and Eames.

“When it is time, the water will take you and you must not be afraid of it,” he told her. They were at his house, a small shack near the Potomac River, their bare feet splashing in the water. “And from that moment on, you will feel the seas and every small puddle for they are you and apart of you.”

“Will I have to be gone forever?”

“No. You will make journeys, every decade or so, and you will stay gone for a year before you will return. When you are older, you will take a larger journey and then right before your time, a last journey.”

“When will your last journey be?”

“When it is time for you to go to sea, I will be there waiting for you. For your first journey, we will work together.”

“And what’s it like when it is my last journey? What will happen when I die?”

Eames patted her head. “When it is time, the moon will welcome you home and you will fade into the currents.

“And my grandmother?”

“Josetta will return to her forest and stay there.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Not as much as saying goodbye.”

* * *

“Lena,” Kol slurred, slumping on her bed. Lena jolted awake to the drunk vampire and groaned. Tomorrow she had a unit test. Jesus Christ, Kol, didn’t he know how terrible APUSH was for your sleeping habits?

“What?”

“Lena, Lena, Lena,” he pulled her into a hug. Lena would’ve struggled if she didn’t already know that Kol was just going to cuddle her like the monster he was instead of snapping her neck. “Lena…” He hiccuped. Lena frowned, hearing him sniffle. What was wrong? She’d never seen him this upset before.

“What, Kol?”

“Why did--why did they wake me up?”

“What do you mean?”

He was definitely crying now. “Why’d they pull out the stake? Why did they do it then? Why couldn’t they have left it in?”

Kol was never suicidal. Finn? Yes. Elijah? Some days. Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah? Never. “Why are you saying this?”

“Elijah, he keeps--he keeps talking about you leaving and Finn’s got this stupid calendar and Klaus and ‘Bekah have this bet goin’ on for when you leave and I just--why did they wake me up if you’re just gonna leave and, and--”

“Hey, hey,” Lena twisted in his arms and grabbed his beautiful and stupid face, “I’m not going anywhere, not anytime soon.”

“But you will!”

“And then I’ll be right back,” she soothed.

He touched her moon mark sadly. “I wish they’d never let me meet you.”

Lena felt tears in her eyes. “But I was so happy when I met you.”

“You’re gonna be gone one day, Lena. How could they show me the best and then tell me she’s going to leave?”

Lena has known Kol for four years. She doesn’t regret a thing about it. “How could they wake up the best vampire I know and then let him be my friend?” she asked. She kissed his forehead. “Kol, you won’t be the only one hurting. I will miss you so much, you hear? But I will come back, okay? You have so much time left with me.”

She wiped away one of his tears, but he nodded.

* * *

In April, Lena was asked to Junior Prom by Henry Lang.

“Um…” she looked at the boy. Which, okay, Henry Lang was cute in that he was sweet and tall and had adorable dimples, but he was also a friend and they’d never really been all that close until junior year and the hell that Mr. Saltzman brought with him that was APUSH. “Like as a date-date or…”

“Oh!” Henry laughed. “No, no, just as friends. I didn’t want to go alone and I didn’t think you wanted to either.”

“What makes you think _I’m_ going alone?” Or going at all, to be honest.

“You told me yesterday Gretchen was asked out by Steve.”

“Oh.” Lena smiled and shrugged. “Okay! Pick me up at seven?”

“Yep. Do I need to get you a corsage or…?”

“Baby, if you want to be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. And buy me a corsage. And gummy worms to sneak in.”

“Alrighty then. Sounds like a plan.”

“Awesome.”

* * *

“Who’s Henry Lang?” a voice demanded.

Lena, who thought she had been alone, fell onto the sidewalk, dropping her hot chocolate and muffin. “My muffin!” she wailed. A family across the street shuffled faster away from her.

Damon rolled his eyes and scooped her up.

She looked down at her muffin and hot chocolate and mourned. She would never be able to find peace again, her heart was broken, shattered, nothing would ever be the same. “My muffin, how _could_ you? My pride and joy, ruined! I--”

“Will buy you another, c’mon, Jailbait,” he grabbed her by the jacket and pulled her along. Lena was now at peace. Her heart would be renewed with love. Damon led her back into the Starbucks she had just come from and they waited behind the large line.

Damon kept glaring at her. “What?”

“Who’s Henry Lang?”

“The absolute _love_ of my life. I want to have sweet babies with him. Ten in fact. They will all be named Henry Junior.”

Damon snorted. “No, seriously, who is he?”

It was too much fun. “He’s my boyfriend,” she told him.

“What? _That_ guy? He looks like he’s twelve.”

“He acts like an eighty year old man. He’s the perfect Remus Lupin. I’m in _love_.” Actually, Henry Lang acted like the seventeen year old boy he was and a history geek.

“He's really your boyfriend?”

“Yep.” Lena popped the ‘p.’

“Hi, welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?”

“I'll have a large hot chocolate and chocolate muffin and he'll have…”

“A venti coffee with soy milk and keep the change.” He handed her a twenty.

“And the names?”

“Lena and Vampy.” The waitress grinned mildly at Lena, but nodded writing their orders on the cups and getting Lena her muffin.

She nibbled on the muffin while they waited.

“Why've I never heard about this guy before?”

“I like to keep my sordid love affairs a secret instead of shouting them across rooftops like you for ‘ _Katherine, oh, Katherine.’_ Man, I'm so glad that bitch never noticed me while she was in town.”

“But Stefan never said anything.”

“Yes, well, despite what Inspector Gadget might think, he's not exactly sneaky. Also, he's not into me, right? He's been following me so much that I wouldn't be surprised that he had a raging love boner for me, but that would be completely bad because I definitely couldn't handle Gilbert and her pom-poms after me.”

“No.” Damon snorted. “He thinks he can save you from Klaus. He has a hero-complex.”

“And you have a martyr-complex. What a pair you two make.”

“Yeah, and what kind of complex do you have?”

“Not sure, I'll ask my therapist next time I see her.” Which would be on Thursday.

Damon laughed.

“Lena and Vampy?” An employee called. Lena nudged Damon and grabbed her drink. They walked out and into the Spring air.

“So you think he's cute?”

“Definitely. I want to bone him to the soundtrack of Lion King.”

“You're weird.”

“I'm not like,” Lena raised a hand to her head dramatically, “those other girls!”

“Does he know about your, uh…”

“Forbidden love for Remus? No.”

“No, I meant your whole Ojjai thing.”

She chuckled. “No, he has to be level four boyfriend to unlock my tragic backstory.”

“I know your tragic backstory,” he pointed out.

_Not all of it…_

“Yes, but all enemies turned friends know each other's backstories, it's just how the plot goes.”

He rolled his eyes. “How are your classes going?”

“Ugh, we’re in the Civil War unit right now and let me just tell you, it is _boring_.”

“Hey, I was in that war!”

“Yeah, that war was lame. I just want to go back to Manifest Destiny and the idiocy that is the War of 1812.”

Damon scowled. “The Civil War was not lame,” he grumbled. Lena shook her head.

“Elijah and Klaus went on opposite sides and played tag for fun before frolicking back to Paris. They've completely ruined all of history for me.”

Damon was caught between laughing and glowering at the mention of his enemies. “What else did they tell you?”

“Apparently Elijah and the Queen of England were in a sordid affair for a while and Klaus helped spread the Black Plague like the dingus he was. Kol was actually there when Lincoln died, but he was too busy making out with an actress to care.”

“What about the Original Barbie?”

“Apparently Klaus had her dress up as Marie Antoinette in China two months after she died.”

“And Finn?”

Lena’s voice turned soft and sweet. “They're always telling me about his adventures at sea.”

“Is that why you like Broody?”

“Yeah.” Lena shrugged. “He also told Thoreau his sentences were too long and honestly he's my hero because of it.”

* * *

Lena’s mother cooed as Henry awkwardly put his hands on her hips. Lena snorted and smiled at the camera, half-worried that her red dress was going to fall down her chest. “Say cheese!”

“Cheese!” they cheered.

“This picture,” her father grinned, “is gauda.”

Lena cringed, laughing, and begged to be let go. Her mother waved her and Henry off on their long walk to school. Thankfully, Lena was wearing her flats for the walk, carrying her heels in her hand. The corsage Henry gave her was white and smelled lovely and the gummy worms were tucked safely into her purse.

She was so ready for the evening ahead and the sugar high afterwards.

Lena’s hopes and dreams for awkward dancing, spiked punch, and sore feet were pretty much dashed when she realized who was chaperoning the dance. Damon and Elijah glared at each other from across the room and Lena glared at the both of them, although she was distantly thankful Kol hadn't joined the creepy stalking of teenagers for the evening.

She left Henry at the punch table to go glare at Elijah. “What are you doing here?” she hissed.

“I wanted to make sure you were having a splendid time.” Lena would've almost bought into the charming and well-intentioned voice if she didn't already know Elijah was full of crap.

“Are you kidding me? I know that's not why you're here! Are you really going to do this with him now? Here?”

“Salvatore has been impeding on your happiness for far too long and his threat to the family is becoming far too much. I will have a final word with him tonight to--”

“He's not bothering me,” Lena reminded him. “We’re kinda a friends now? So you don't have to do this, Elijah.”

“Eames came to me,” Elijah told her. Lena went still. “He told me you were distracted and he wanted to know why since it was making you sloppy in training.”

“And you think that's because of _Damon_?”

“I have never seen you so distracted, Lena! You've been all over the place and involved with those pests!”

“Oh my god!” she said hotly. “Elijah! I'm in my _junior year_! I am taking four APs. I have to figure out what college I need to go to! Kol keeps coming to me all sad like in the middle of the night and my Ojjai duties are popping up more! Of _course_ I'm distracted! It has nothing to do with Damon.”

“Are you sure because your mother has told me he's been walking you home.”

“You talked to Tara!” she asked.

“Yes, she's worried she need to take you to Planned Parenthood.”

“Oh my god, _stop_.” Lena covered her ears. “Damon and I are just friends--also, can vampires even get someone pregnant? You guys are dead!”

“Um.” Elijah fell silent for once. “I don't think so? Since we are dead our bodies shouldn't even be able to pump enough blood in order to erect the penis, but since--”

“Stop! Stop!” Lena backed away. “I am leaving now. Please don't kill Damon, I'm going to go dab with a white boy.”

Before Elijah could respond, Lena ran away.

* * *

Lena went to go get more punch and was intercepted by Damon while Elijah was being flirted with by a soccer mom.

“You lied to me,” he whispered while she was pouring the punch.

Lena jumped. “Jesus Christ, please stop doing that!” Damon chuckled. Lena turned around, pushing him away. His suit might make his ass look nice, but she needed her personal space. “And what do you mean?”

“You told me he was your boyfriend. He's not.”

Lena raised her brow. “How'd you find that out?”

He shrugged. “I compelled him. You two are just partners.”

“Whelp, I guess the jig is up. I'm just a lonely stressed out junior with a bunch of vampys on my ass.”

Damon shrugged. “It means you're single.”

Lena blinked. “Um...yeah?”

He reached up to cup her cheek. Lena blinked. _What the fuck?_ She watched in horror as he leaned down to--

Damon was tackled into the punch table and people started screaming. Lena shrieked as she watched Elijah punch Damon in the face repeatedly, punch staining the floor and their shirts, cups sprayed everywhere.

“Don't you touch her!” Elijah was screaming.

“Oh my god, Elijah!” Lena reached down to pull him off. “Stop it!” Juniors and their dates were crowding around them and school officials were pushing through the crowd. Elijah tried to shrug her off of but she pulled at his collar and threw him to the ground, right at Cathy Weltzer’s feet. Damon got up and was about to lunge at Elijah, but she pressed against his chest. “Stop it, Damon!”

He growled, but didn't move. “But he--”

“No, stop it! I don't know what you just tried to pull or what he's trying to do, but you both need to calm the fuck down. If you're both going to exist in my life, y’all need to learn to be civil.”

“That is enough, Ms. Johnson,” her principal announced. “Mr. Mikaelson and Salvatore, in my office, now.”

* * *

Lena refused to talk to any Mystic Falls supernatural losers until after her APs were over. All except Kol and Finn but that was because Kol refused to listen to her and Finn made her chocolate croissants.

Although that didn't stop Damon from trying to walk her home or Elijah from buying her expensive first editions of Lord of the Rings. Lena refused to even look at them and even Eames, who she was on speaking terms with, found her lack of wit and cheer concerning.

“This is not what I had foreseen when I spoke with Elijah,” the Ujjin told her after a particularly long and gruesome session. Tomorrow, Lena had her APUSH final and she was frantically trying to remember details on the migrations of African Americans for all of U.S. history.

“Yeah, well.” She shrugged. A twirl of water fell back into the lake.

“For our next session, resolve any conflicts or else do not visit.”

Lena nodded and they ended for the day.

The next day, Lena killed it when they asked her about the Great Migration and surprisingly breezed through her essay question on the Gilded Age. After her final AP, which was English, Lena walked out of school, feeling excited about her essays, and was greeted by Elijah in the school parking lot. Gretchen peeled away from Lena, waving goodbye as she got into her mom’s minivan. That's when she spotted him on the sidewalk on one of the benches. She slowed to a stop. He stood up.

“Lena,” Elijah started, shifting awkwardly on his spot. “In the decade that I have known you, you have grown into a caring and lovely young woman, who has shown tremendous strength and skill in your abilities.” Lena stepped a little closer. Around them, soccer moms and teens glanced at them and continued about their day. “The day we met, you spent hours explaining to me why Kida and Ariel were your favorite Disney princesses, discussing the merits of water and the purity of their homes. From then on, not only did I know that you would be the Water Ujjin, but that you were immensely special. I know that I can be…abrasive.”

Lena snorted, but rubbed at her eyes, feeling them wet. “You took all of Eli’s big brother roles.”

“Indeed. You were stuck with two brothers named Eli and later Finn, Kol, Klaus, and even a sister named Rebekah. But you always loved us and we will always love you. I want to apologize for the way I acted at your prom and the brawl I enacted. If you wish to be with Damon Salvatore--”

“Which I don't,” she added.

“--or anyone of your choosing, it is not my place to impose, but to only help when you ask.”

“You really mean that?”

“Yes, Lena. I am so sorry for--”

She lunged at the vampire, hugging him desperately. She cried, mostly in relief because her APs were over and because she didn't have to hold a (major) grudge against Elijah anymore.

“Oh thank god. I'm really missing our weekly cookies and lemonade.”

* * *

It was Finn of all people that made her snap out of it.

“Lena, dear,” he said as he gave her another stack to her marionberry pancakes. On the other skillet, blood pancakes were being cooked and Kol was waiting eagerly on the counter for a taste. “Please, stop all this nonsense, and go tell the boy you like him.”

“What boy?” Lena frowned, eating another fresh strawberry.

“Damon Salvatore?” Finn tutted. “I've been watching him and he's been mooning after you for months.”

“Months?” she squawked.

Kol tore through a blood pancake. “Yeah, he’s been at the bar with Saltzy, mooning about you.” The man snorted. “All I wanted was a drink and instead I’m stuck listening to a baby vamp croon about your eyes.”

Lena frowned. “I’m not--he’s not--”

“Lena, dear, you talk about him all the time and he walks you home every day. Don’t tell me you don’t like him, honey, because you do.”

“Oh my god, Finn, he’s like a hundred something. You’re endorsing pedophilia and mass age difference!”

Finn snorted. “Well then you two will never be together.”

“Good!”

Kol smacked her head, making her wince. “Not good! You need to get laid or at least make out with someone. Since you refuse to let me--”

“--That’s because Eli told me about Christmas last year--”

“--then you should hop on the Damon train. Personally, I would prefer you to be with Elijah or Finn, but unfortunately Elijah’s brother complex would be too much and Finn’s been eyeing up Ms. Lockwood, so that’s out of the question.”

“Well, none of that matters,” Lena huffed. “I don’t even like Damon like that.”

“Right.” Kol rolled his eyes and Finn shook his head. Lena spent the rest of brunch with red cheeks.

* * *

Lena S. Johnson took an evening dip by the river, wearing her one piece and letting the water ease her restless soul. Next year, she would be a senior. And then after that, she’d be in college. In six years, if she was lucky, Lena would shed her Ojjai status and become the Water Ujjin, but if the moon felt differently, she would be the Ujjin at nineteen. She sighed and sat up in the water, waving her arms around to make the water arch up like tentacles.

And this was how Damon Salvatore found her with the water curled around the air like a snake ready to fly. A wave of deja vu washed over her and strained water went lax, falling into the lake and splashing him.

He shucked off his shirt and his jeans, approaching the water. Lena frowned, anxious about what he might say to her, but sighed, dipping under the surface. Underwater, the silent world she once knew hummed with life and power. Water felt like home, not just a sanctuary. Lena listened to the water bend and sigh around her as he waded towards her.

She pushed herself up to the surface, where Damon was waiting for her. “So,” she drawled, trying to act nonchalant, “what do you want?”

“I wanted to apologize.”

Lena raised a brow. “Oh?”

“I guess I read things wrong.” He looked anywhere but at her face. “I thought…”

“I know what you thought,” she murmured. His blue eyes snapped to hers. “I…”

“I know I’m not your type,” he said, “I should’ve realized.”

Lena hummed. “Maybe. Maybe not.” He really wasn’t her type. He was too much “bad boy” and sex appeal for Lena to handle. Would he even cuddle her and respect her the morning after? And was it even acceptable for her to start a fling or--here’s hoping--relationship with him if she knew she was just going to have to leave him in a few years for who knew how long? And there was the whole team-let’s-kill-Klaus and sooner or later someone was _definitely_ going to stake Damon and--

He touched her arm. “Why do you always think so much?”

“One of us has to.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t. Just tell me, Lena, do you want me?”

She blushed. She hadn’t even _thought_ about that part. She was thinking more about the emotional bits and now she was thoroughly fucked. Jesus Christ, his abs were also _right there_ at the moment. And from all the locker room giggling earlier that year from Cathy Weltzer and the other teen girls, there was a lot for her to imagine.

“Um…” She blinked and looked up at him. She thought about Kol and Finn. Elijah was going to be so smug about this later. “Y-yeah. I guess. Yep. Yes--” Damon cupped her cheek again and leaned down. This time, she didn’t pull back and Damon wasn’t attacked.

All in all, it was a pretty great start from there.


End file.
